Photograph by: Stuart Gradon
, Calgary Herald

Sure, you can make an educated guess on the projected Calgary Flames roster for the 2014-15 season.

And, definitely after Wednesday’s final scrimmage, interested individuals and curious onlookers at WinSport developed opinions of their own.

But for Brad Treliving, the priority of their annual summer development camp was to place an emphasis on behind-the-scenes education and development — and not the finished on-ice product.

“It’s giving these guys the tools,” said the Flames general manager. “Yes, you want to get a little glimpse and see how they move.

“But, a lot of ways, doing too much heavy lifting on-ice and evaluating, it can be a dangerous thing.”

It was also time for his hockey operations group — including Bob Hartley and his coaching staff and new American Hockey League coach Ryan Huska — to set an example of what the Flames are about.

“One of the foundational cultural things we want here, whenever we do something, we do it hard and we compete,” he said. “It’s not a sometimes thing. It has to be an everyday thing. I think that, more than anything, is what I took out of this.

“To get a DNA and a culture, it’s what you do every single day. You have to repeat it. Kids are leaving here today going, ‘OK. I have a better understanding on what the Flames organization is about.’”

And Treliving’s parting message?

There are two critical months left to get ready for training camp — so be ready.

Because it doesn’t take an expert to know that plenty of jobs are up for grabs this fall.

“Quite frankly, as a young player, I don’t know if there’s a better situation or organization to be in,” Treliving said. “And don’t wait. I find with a lot of young players, when you get into September, you can’t just stick your toe in the pool. You have to jump in. We go two days and you’re playing pre-season games. So, be ready to go at the start of camp — not three or four days into it.

“Hopefully that message has been received and we’ll see everyone in September.”

WOLF A ‘WALKING FRIDGE’

Treliving did his best to summarize what he saw out of newcomer David Wolf.

“He’s like a walking fridge,” he said chuckling. “He’s a big guy.”

But although the six-foot-three, 220-pound winger from Duesseldorf, Germany, is built like a linebacker and is clearly a physical specimen off his skates, Treliving still doesn’t have a complete read on the on-ice product.

Because of the lack of players and ice-time demand in Germany, Wolf hadn’t skated in three months since his season ended with Hamburg and it was obvious.

“Which is normal but you could see the progression,” Treliving said. “He’s just probably starting to feel good now. But he’s an interesting guy, he’s an older guy, you can see his straight-ahead approach.

“Between now and September, he’ll have been on the ice and I think you’ll see a little bit of a different kid come September.”

The plan for Wolf, who was inked a one-year, two-way contract with the Flames in May, to return to Calgary before September to skate with a few players prior to the start of main camp.

“Like I said, strength isn’t a problem with David,” Treliving said. “But he has to make sure he’s on the ice and prepares . . . in September, the big boys come out.”

The Flames also put some unknowns on their radar including right defenceman Jason Fram (who’ll receive an invite to main camp) and left winger Casey Bailey — both players were singled out by the boss on Wednesday.

Inquiring minds also wanted to know what Treliving made of their fourth overall selection Sam Bennett.

“I think we had a pretty good handle on Sam,” he said. “It’s the first time we’re spending time with him as our guy. There’s a lot to like there. He’s a talented player. He comes as advertised in terms of the intangible pieces. He’s a winner. He’s a character kid. He’s a driven kid.

“Now, he’s going to go home and put some work in and we’ll see where he is in training camp.”

Under previous leadership, the Flames were quick to put the pen to summer time signings on Sean Monahan and Sven Baertschi.

But in his first off-season as the team’s GM, Treliving said he isn’t in a rush to hammer out a deal with Bennett.

“I talked to his representatives after the draft and that’s another conversation we’ll have next week, just to get a sense of where they’re at,” he said. “But it’s not something we think we have to rush out and do this afternoon. Obviously, it’s something we’re going to take a look at fairly quickly.”

And, he said, it’s irrelevant

“Would I like it done? Sure,” I don’t think it has any bearing on where Sam starts. That’ll all be based on his play. Again, a lot of these contracts, they slot in fairly easily. So, we’ll see.”

TIME TO TAKE A BREATH

First, was preparing for the National Hockey League scouting combine and draft.

Then, it was free agency.

Now, with the end to prospects camps all over the league, there may be a summer for NHL executives.

“Everything just sort of stops,” Treliving said. “You’re always talking . . . but I think everyone is taking a deep breath now and assessing where they’re at. There are still very capable NHL players that don’t have jobs yet. You’ll see some things over the course of the next few weeks but once you get into training camp, I think you see another push once you get a sense of what you have.

“There’s a slow down, never a stop. But it won’t be long before we’re wrapping up and getting ready for camp.”

And they’re not there yet, Treliving said.

“But as you add young players to your system, one thing it does is create competition,” he said. “Training camp will determine who is ready and who isn’t. There’s some really good things that have taken place here. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that we were the 27th placed team last year so we need to get better. I’m open to whatever we can do to make ourselves better.

“We just finished picking fourth in the draft and there’s lots of room for change in the group.”

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